Associated British Foods said its first-half operating profits will be slightly lower than last year, but its discount budget clothing stores Primark saw half-year like-for-like sales growth of 5%.
The sugar refiner and food manufacturer said it was still budgeting for flat net earnings for the year to September 12, 2009 as it had in November 2008, due to investments in sugar and Primark.
'Trading at Primark has been strong and over Christmas was ahead of our expectations. Sales in the first half were substantially ahead of last year, reflecting the increase in retail selling space and a 5% increase in like-for-like sales,' the group said in a trading statement.
At the end of this month, the group will have 187 stores in Britain, Ireland, Spain and its first in the Netherlands. Primark trades as Penney's here.
The group expects to open a further seven stores in the second half, including its first in Germany and Portugal.
AB Foods said that its profit from sugar will be ahead of last year, while grocery profits will be lower due to the impact of consumer downtrading in a number of businesses which more than offset food performance from Twinings tea, Ovaltine drinks and Allied Bakeries.
